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Credit Card Users Could Lose in Swipe Fee Settlement

July 16, 2012, Written By Lynn Oldshue

Retailers reached an antitrust settlement on interchange fees with Visa, MasterCard and several large banks that will be good for merchants but might penalize cardholders with higher prices or decreased credit card rewards.

The $7.25 billion dollar settlement allows retailers to charge higher prices to their customers for paying with credit cards. Until now, the card companies prohibited retailers from adding this type of surcharge.

This settlement might conclude another round in the battle over interchange fees. When consumers swipe a card for payment at the register, they may not be aware that Visa and MasterCard charges the retailer a fee, commonly called an interchange or swipe fee, every time a credit card or debit card is used for payment. The card processor collects the fee and splits it with the bank that issues the card. The fee on a credit card typically ranges from 1.5 percent to 3 percent of the transaction, depending on the merchant and the type of card. Merchants have fought against this fee because it cuts into their profits and is one of the biggest costs of running a business. Merchants hope this settlement increases transparency and forces card processors to reduce the amount they charge for interchange fees.

Credit card processors defend the fee because it covers the expense of the processing the card, the risk of fraud, and the cost of providing funds while payment is pending.

The $7.25 Billion SettlementCredit card companies have agreed to reduce swipe fees for eight months. This temporary adjustment is valued at $1.2 billion. In addition, MasterCard, Visa and major banks, including JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America, agreed to pay more than $6 billion to settle accusations that they engaged in anticompetitive practices and price fixing in payment processing. Visa will pay $4.4 billion while MasterCard will pay $790 million.

The settlement did not include American Express or Discover because both of these issuers already permit swipe fee surcharges, as long as merchants impose surcharges on payments with other rival cards.

A judge in the U.S. District Court must still approve the settlement and this may not happen until at least the end of the year. Merchants cannot assess a surcharge until this approval and there will be a cap on the amount they can charge. There are ten states that prohibit merchant surcharges and retailers in those states must still abide by state law. These states are: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Oklahoma, and Texas.

The settlement may not completely end the battle over swipe fees. The National Association of Convenience Stores, a trade group representing more than 3,700 merchants and a plaintiff in the lawsuit, rejected the settlement and hired a law firm to get a better deal. It is protesting that the settlement still leaves the issuers with too much control over swipe fees.

The settlement does not apply to debit cards. Last year, debit card swipe fees were basically cut in half by regulations in the Dodd-Frank law.

Effects on Consumers
As with past regulations and rulings that affect bank revenue, this settlement could cost consumers. If the merchant passes along the fee, cardholders could pay as much as 3% more when they pay with a credit card. If a cardholder carries a balance from month to month, the cardholder will also pay interest on the surcharge.

Cardholders who take advantage of credit card rewards could see dramatic cuts and changes in their reward programs. Historically, swipe fees helped pay for credit card reward programs and a reduction in swipe fee revenue could eventually lead to changes in credit card rewards. Even if the cardholder paid off the balance each month and never paid interest, the credit card issuer still made money from the swipe fee every time the card was used.

Banks offered rewards with debit card usage, but most banks ended their debit rewards program as soon as the interchange fee cuts took place on debit cards. Credit card rewards are too popular to discontinue, but issuers will try to find ways to make up for this lost revenue. This settlement comes at a time when card issuers are giving record rewards to attract customers with the highest credit scores. But those days may be over.

There is a chance that merchants may offer a discount to customers who pay with cash. A few gas stations already do this.

Ideally, retailers will find a way to pass some of the credit card swipe fee savings to consumers. However, the debit card swipe fee was cut in half almost a year ago, and we haven’t seen much evidence that the savings trickled down to consumers.

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Editorial Note: This content is not provided or commissioned by the credit card issuer. Opinions expressed here are author's alone, not those of the credit card issuer, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the credit card issuer. This site may be compensated through the credit card issuer affiliate program. See the online application for details about terms and conditions for these offers. Every reasonable effort has been made to maintain accurate information, however all credit card information is presented without warranty. After you click on an offer you will be directed to the credit card issuer's web site where you can review the terms and conditions for your offer.

Advertiser Disclosure: LowCards.com is an independent, for-profit web site. LowCards.com participates in the Affiliate Network, and receives compensation from most of the credit card issuers whose offers appear on the site. This compensation helps support our website and enables us to write insightful articles to help you manage your credit card accounts. This compensation, as well as the likelihood of applicants' credit approval and our own proprietary website guidelines, may impact how and where the cards appear on our site.

LowCards.com does not include all credit card companies or every available credit card offer. Opinions expressed here are author's alone, not those of the credit card issuer, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the credit card issuer. Every reasonable effort has been made to maintain accurate information, however credit card offers change frequently. After you click on an offer you will be directed to the credit card issuer's secure web site where you can review the terms and conditions for your offer.